The image is a handwritten excerpt from Jeff Bezos' 2015 letter to shareholders, published in 2016. It details Amazon's decision-making philosophy:
- One-way doors (Type 1): Decisions are consequential and nearly irreversible, thus should be made methodically, carefully, and slowly, with great deliberation and consultation.
- Two-way doors (Type 2): Decisions are changeable and reversible. These should be made quickly by high judgment individuals or small groups. If a suboptimal decision is made, it's possible to reopen the door and go back through.
Bezos notes that as organizations grow, there's a tendency to use Type 1 decision-making for most decisions, including many Type 2 decisions. This results in slowness, unthoughtful risk aversion, failure to experiment sufficiently, and diminished innovation. He emphasizes the need to combat this tendency.
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